Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News and Young Change Makers: Compassionate Kids are the winners of Goddard Riverside’s 2025 social justice book prizes.
Copaganda, by Alec Karakatsanis for The New Press, won the Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice. This award was established in 2017 and is named after the social service agency’s book-loving former executive director.
“Copaganda is a powerful critique of how media narratives distort crime and public safety by masking the ineffectiveness, waste, and abuse of our criminal legal system,” wrote the panel of five judges. “Alec Karakatsanis shows how the ‘punishment bureaucracy’ deploys propaganda to drive public support for policing and incarceration, while diverting attention from community-based solutions that actually keep people safe. Copaganda equips us to see through these narratives and to demand strategies that advance justice, equity, and true public safety for all.”
Young Change Makers: Compassionate Kids, by Stacy C. Bauer for Sourcebooks Explore, took home the Goddard Riverside CBC Youth Book Prize for Social Justice, launched in 2020 in partnership with the Children’s Book Council.
The youth prize judges wrote: “In Young Change Makers: Compassionate Kids, we meet twelve children and teens from preschool to high school who have each found a way to make a difference. Their real-life stories demonstrate how each was inspired and created change. This book reminds us all – kids and adults alike – that they have the power to change the world!”
The winners were announced before a full house at the annual Goddard Bash on October 9 at Bryant Park Grill in New York City.
The Goddard book prizes celebrate the power of the written word to create change in the name of justice for all. They reflect Goddard Riverside’s determination to not only ameliorate the impacts of poverty but help create a more just society.
Shortlists for both prizes were released on September 26. This year’s shortlisted books were:
Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice
Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities and the Local Heroes Fighting Back, by Miranda S. Spivack for The New Press. This book tells the story of five “accidental activists”—people from across the United States who started questioning why their local and state governments didn’t protect them from issues facing their communities and why there was a frightening lack of transparency surrounding the way these issues were resolved.
Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News, by Alec Karakatsanis for The New Press. Copaganda delves into the symbiotic relationship between law enforcement agencies and media outlets, revealing how public perception is shaped to favor policing narratives.
Dreaming of Home: How We Turn Fear into Pride, Power, and Real Change, by Cristina Jiménez for St. Martin’s Griffin. This memoir is a coming-of-age story for both a young woman finding her true self and a social movement of immigrant youth trailblazers who inspired the world and changed the lives of millions.
Pay the People!: Why Fair Pay is Good for Business and Great for America, by John Driscoll, Morris Pearl and Patriotic Millionaires for The New Press. This book advocating for fair wages as beneficial to both the economy and societal well-being comes from an unusual source—wealthy former executives.
Protect Your People: How Ordinary Families Are Using Participatory Defense to Challenge Mass Incarceration, by Raj Jayadev for The New Press. An examination of how communities are working together to combat the injustices of mass incarceration with an innovative technique called “participatory defense.”
Slow and Sudden Violence: Why and When Uprisings Occur, by Derek Hyra for University of California Press. Slow and Sudden Violence argues that urban uprisings triggered by police killings are connected to the ‘slow violence’ of housing and community development policies that have historically segregated, gentrified, and displaced Black communities.
Goddard Riverside CBC Youth Book Prize for Social Justice
Calling All Future Voters! By Laura Atkins, Rev. Edward Hailes Jr, and Jennifer Lai-Peterson; illustrated by Srimalie Bassani for Gloo Books. A group of children learn about voting rights and civic engagement as they work to mobilize their community and fight for a more inclusive democracy.
Gifts from the Garbage Truck: A True Story About the Things We (Don’t) Throw Away, by Andrew Larsen; illustrated by Oriol Vidal for Sourcebooks Explore. This inspiring true story follows sanitation worker Nelson Molina, who salvaged and upcycled thousands of discarded items to create a museum and teach others about the value of reuse and community care.
Jina Jeong: Project Park Art, by Carol Kim; illustrated by Flavia Zuncheddu for Picture Window Books/Capstone. Jina and her friends transform graffiti in their local park into beautiful public art with the help of street artists, learning that not all graffiti is ugly.
Where Are the Women?: The Girl Scouts’ Campaign for the First Statue of Women in Central Park, by Janice Hechter for Red Chair Press. When a group of New York City Girl Scouts learn in 2016 that there are no statues of women in Central Park, they organize and combine forces in a quest to change that shocking fact.
Young Change Makers: Compassionate Kids, A Children’s Book About Kindness and Love by Stacy C. Bauer; illustrated by Emanuela Ntamack for Sourcebooks Explore. This book highlights real children from around the world who show compassion through acts of kindness and advocacy, proving that young people can make a big difference.
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Goddard Riverside strives toward a fair and just society where all people can make choices that lead to better lives for themselves and their families. Our programs serve more than 20,000 people annually, preparing children and youth for success; supporting self-sufficiency; enriching the lives of older adults; promoting behavioral health; fighting homelessness; and strengthening families and communities.
The Children’s Book Council (CBC) is the nonprofit trade association of children’s book publishers in North America, dedicated to supporting the industry and promoting children’s books and reading.